Minnesota Bound - One Year Ago Today!

Hello faithful family, friends, and followers. One year ago today we were up early, got Joy dressed in clothes for the first time in 5 weeks and waited pensively for the ambulance to arrive that would take us to the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP) where we were to board a LearJet MedFlight and fly to MSP, then to an ambulance which would take us to the Allina Courage Kenny inpatient program at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

What whirlwind those final days had been. It was just 9 days after Joy had her cranioplasty surgery, literally opening up her head and replacing the brain flap that was removed on February 27th. I can’t tell you how many people felt compelled, leading up to her cranioplasty, to tell me stories about brain flaps going missing, not exactly the encouraging words one needed to hear at that time. But, praise God, Joy’s brain flap made it safely back from the brain flap bank, wherever that is, and was successfully implanted on Tuesday, March 26th.

Now, 9 days later we were working to get the neuro-surgeon, the attending physician, the discharging hospital, the MedFlight company, the receiving hospital, and the insurance company all to agree to Joy’s discharge, transport, and admission to Allina Courage Kenny. We only had a 24-48 hour window for Joy to arrive in Minneapolis to have the available bed at Courage Kenny and the insurance authorization from BCBS to line up, but the MedFlight company’s scheduling had a 48 to 72 hour window. Needless to say, we desperately needed all the prayers you lifted up for us to have all these pieces align and align they did.

By God’s mercy and grace, a MedFlight was available in the window of time we needed, the funds for the flight graciously provided by so many of you were deposited (I’ve never transferred $30,000 using my cell phone before), and after much pleading and cajoling the necessary authorizations and medical information was provided by the Florida hospital and with our daughter-in-law Caitlyn riding shotgun over the admission process in Minneapolis, we were in the air at 2:30pm.

I don’t know how they squeezed Joy into the plane, but they did. All was going well for the first hour, but even with a pressurized aircraft, the pressure changes at 40,000 feet caused the excess air in Joy’s GI tract to expand resulting in significant pain with still two plus hours to go in the air. Thankfully, the MedFlight nurse had Dilaudid available which allowed relief of the pain and restful sleep for Joy the remainder of the flight. Once on the ground we were loaded into another ambulance and off to Abbott Northwestern. After a bit of a delay navigating the sprawling Abbott Northwestern campus, we were in Joy’s room, decorated by Caitlyn who welcomed us along with our Alyx with many tears of joy by Joy and for Joy. 🥰

We arrived in the evening and already the next morning, therapy was to start in earnest. I have written before that the rehabilitation program Joy was entering required the ability to participate in 3 hours of therapy a day. If Joy wasn’t up to the task, there was only one alternative, a skilled nursing facility. Up to this point, Joy has progressed to walking to the nurses station and probably at most done 15-20 minutes of “therapy.” I kept praying hard, but also telling myself that being back home in Minnesota was worth the risk of Joy potentially not being ready for her intensive therapy program. But, thanks to God and thanks to Joy, she drew on all her strength and from day one, consistently impressed her therapists and other caregivers and me too!

The rehabilitation facility at Allina Courage Kenny was amazing to see with rails, stairs, walkways, multiple simulated ground surfaces, a practice shopping area, kitchen area, and even a car to get into and out of. On the morning of Joy’s assessment, she went up and down stairs (with assistance), walked briefly on her own unsupported, and was even able to get into and out of the car, the first day! When Joy accomplished getting into and out of the car, the therapist, with a big grin on her face said, “What do you need us for?” I knew at that point that Joy’s determination and indomitable spirit, with God’s help, would carry us through the coming days. With Joy proving she was up to participating in the program, we then had three weeks to be prepared to go home.

Our townhome had a half bath on the main floor, but no shower or tub. There were discussions of removing our dining room table to make room for a hospital bed on the first floor along with a commode if necessary, since there was a step to navigate to get to the first floor bath. There were 10 steps down to our basement which had a bed and 3/4 bath or the 17 steps to our upstairs with our master bedroom and bath. At the start, both of those options were questionable. However, Joy worked so hard and progressed so well, that we were soon able to dismiss the idea of the hospital bed and commode, but still wondered about the 17 steps to our upstairs. The therapy room only had steps that went up 4 or 5. The solution, take Joy to the stairwell in the hospital. After working her way up to 10 steps, 12, 15, then up to two flights of stairs which totaled 24, we had our 17 steps at home covered and then some.

But, I am getting ahead of myself. Today is the anniversary of the flight home, a flight only made possible by the overwhelming generosity of so many of you. We cannot begin to thank you for the blessing it was to be winged home safely and securely on that April 4th one year ago today.

With Easter occurring so much later this year, our timing of reflections from a year ago will be a bit off, but as we come closer to Easter we’ll backtrack to the memories leading up to Easter week and the final days in Florida. Thank you all again for your interest, support, and encouragement. We thank God daily for the many blessings we have received over the past year. Not to forget, we still covet your prayers for restoration of Joy’s sight to the upper right and for continued healing/restoration of language and cognitive functions. For now, we wish you a safe and special week ahead.